Leger
During a jumping exercise in Diest, two Dutch army soldiers crashed after their parachutes became entangled. One of the paratroopers was slightly injured and taken to hospital.
Two Dutch army paratroopers crashed in Diest after their parachutes became tangled. The accident occurred around 11 a.m. during a jumping exercise above the Parachute Training Center in the Schaffen district. According to the public prosecutor’s office in Leuven, one of the soldiers, a man born in 2002, suffered minor injuries. The other paratrooper escaped virtually unscathed.
“A test jump was first carried out to evaluate the conditions and it went without any problems,” said Mayor Christophe De Graef (Open Diest). “Immediately after the start of the official exercise, the paratroopers became entangled. They both opened their reserve parachutes, one of which opened immediately and the other only later during the fall. So they landed on the ground at quite a speed. The injured victim was immediately transferred to the University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven.”
The investigation and follow-up are in the hands of the Dutch defense department. “There is always a risk of accidents when parachuting and this must be avoided as much as possible,” said Jean Debie, chairman of the Union for Civilian and Military Defense Personnel, in De Telegraaf. “A proper evaluation must take place to see what happened and to see whether procedures need to be adjusted.”
